


Reawakening

by Wine Dark Sea (aubreyli)



Category: Weiß Kreuz
Genre: Amnesia, Crawford is annoyed because of feelings, F/M, M/M, Marriage, Schuldig is jealous and angry because he knows it's technically his fault
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-20
Updated: 2015-04-20
Packaged: 2018-03-24 21:59:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3785752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aubreyli/pseuds/Wine%20Dark%20Sea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You got married?” Schuldig snarls.  “I left you for five weeks and you got fucking married?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reawakening

He blinks, and comes back to himself, as Bill Cranston fades into a dreamlike unreality.  “Schuldig,” he says, finally recognizing the man on the couch beside him.

Schuldig grins, shoulders slumped in visible relief.  “Welcome back,” he says, and punches Brad hard in the face.

“Ow, fuck!” Brad clutches his nose, checking for bleeding.  A brief, belated image lights up behind his eyes of a fist and an enraged redhead.  _Now you tell me,_ he thinks with annoyance.

“You got _married?”_ Schuldig snarls.  “I left you for _five weeks_ and you got fucking _married?”_

“Technically, it was Bill Cranston who got—” he breaks off as he suddenly gets a very clear impression of Schuldig’s boot impacting his more tender body parts.  “You did very well,” he says instead, in calm, placating tones.  “The daughter of a war vet was an excellent choice; as soon as she saw my – Bill’s – scars, she immediately became sympathetic to his plight.”

“Yeah, so you’d have a cover while you were healing, not to get you a fucking _wife!”_ Schuldig springs to his feet, but immediately staggers, and drops back down onto the couch.  Now Brad can see how exhausted he looks, the gray pallor of his skin, the faint tremble in his hands.

 _Ah,_ he realizes.  “Was it a difficult extraction?”

For a moment, Schuldig just glowers at the rug.  “Anything after two weeks becomes difficult,” he says, lips tight.  “After three, there starts to be entanglement.  I’ve never gone past four.”  He looks up, and skewers Brad with a venomous glare.  “But by then, you were on your fucking _honeymoon,_ and none of your neighbors knew where you were.”

None of this is his fault, Brad knows.  If anything, Schuldig should have been more careful with how he’d crafted Bill Cranston, to make a man who’d marry a woman he’d known for less than a month.  He squashes the thought before Schuldig can pick up on it.  “Is Dietrich’s team dead?”

“Yeah, along with the rest of the creepy-ass children, while you were off playing house.  You’re _welcome_.”

Brad sighs, feeling irritation swell against his temples.  “Thank you, Schuldig,” he says, with gritted patience.  His nose still fucking hurts.  “Now are you going to whine about this all day, or can we get going?”

“What about your _wife?”_ Schuldig sneers, jerking his chin upwards, to where Rebecca’s still sleeping off the jet lag.  “Sure you don’t want one last fuck for the road first?”

Bill Cranston flares red-hot for just a second, making Brad’s hands clench.  “No,” Brad says, slowly, as Schuldig’s eyes widen in shock, “a sudden disappearance would attract too much attention.  We came back late last night.  No one saw us.  Make her believe I died in Fiji."

Schuldig nods, looking sullen and worried as he follows Brad up the stairs.  Brad feels a mild telepathic probe, and rebuffs it.  They will have time for that later.

Rebecca is still sleeping in the same position he’d left her, curled up on her side, her flame-red hair (the first thing about her that had caught his eye, which makes a lot more sense now) sprawled loosely on the pillows.  She’s beautiful, intelligent, funny, and great in bed.  Bill Cranston had fallen in love with her at first sight, and had spent five glorious weeks thinking he was the luckiest man in the world. 

_Did you knock her up?_

_No._ Rebecca wanted to wait until she finished medical school to have children.  They were careful. 

 _Good._ Schuldig walks up to Rebecca, and places his hand on her forehead.  He closes his eyes, and goes very still.

Brad looks him over carefully.  He’s lost weight, and Schuldig never had much fat to spare in the first place.  The fact that he has to touch Rebecca at all speaks volumes for how low his reserves must be, after weeks of battling psychics while Brad convalesced.  It would be… uncharitable to make Schuldig suffer jealousy as well, simply because part of him is still in love with his wife.

A vision compels Brad to move forward as Schuldig breaks off the connection, and he is in position to catch his telepath before he can fall.  “Done?” he asks.

 _Surfing accident_ , Schuldig replies, panting against Brad’s shoulder.  _You were cremated.  Ashes dumped into the ocean._

“Thank you,” Brad says again, sincerely this time.  He slides one hand down to Schuldig’s waist, and cups the other around the back of his neck, and hauls him into a kiss.

Schuldig responds with gratifying enthusiasm.  Brad lets him get in one good grope of his ass, before he pulls away.  Schuldig still looks tired, but he doesn’t look pinched and unhappy anymore.  Brad cards his fingers through long, red hair, and lets himself enjoy the smile that lights up Schuldig’s face.

 _Okay, enough sap,_ Schuldig says after a few minutes, extricating himself out from Brad’s arms.  _Come on, we’ve got a flight in three hours._

“I’ll clean up, get the car started,” Brad says, and heads to the bathroom, removing his wet toothbrush, wet razor, anything that indicates he was here tonight.  He then returns to the bedroom, takes the clothes he’d worn last night, and neatens his side of the bed, until it looks like it hasn’t been slept in. 

He’s almost at the stairs before he remembers, and heads back.  The wedding band comes off with a quick twist.  He places it on the nightstand, in front of a photo taken on the night they got engaged.

There is a lighter stripe of skin where the ring used to sit.  But time will take care of that.  Schuldig will take care of the rest.

He turns, and walks away.  He doesn’t look back.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, the woes of falling in love with a pairing long after its fandom has hit its peak! Ah well, the internet is forever.


End file.
